The Other Things That Happened
by Muggle Jane
Summary: A collection of drabbles from a slightly AU during-book-six, written for the Too Many Cooks challenge. Starring Neville/Luna! Written back and forth with musefan929 with her collection, "Comings and Goings"
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: None of the recognizable characters belong to me. A collection of drabbles written for the Too Many Cooks challenge!**

"I thought I could get away from him," Neville said glumly as he sat on the long bench at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, noticeably not eating his lunch. "And I did so well on my Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. too."

"We'll keep practicing together, Neville, you're really very good at it." Luna was sitting beside him, and she reached over and patted his hand consolingly.

"Gran is _not_ going to be happy," he continued mournfully as though she hadn't said anything at all. "I already can't do Potions and Transfiguration."

"Why does he bother you so much?" she asked, gray eyes wide as she watched him.

"He picks on me," the blond boy mumbled, intently staring at his empty plate. "He tried to poison Trevor."

She blinked at him for a long moment. "Where is Trevor?"

"Dunno." He shrugged, not really seeming bothered by not knowing where his toad was.

"Oh." She paused for a moment and then smiled. "But you're really brave."

"I'm not." The tips of his ears started to turn pink and he stole a glance at her. She was studying him, her face a mixture of concern and earnestness.

"You are, though. Very brave. You didn't even let a broken nose slow you down." She reached out and tapped the tip of his nose gently and he gave her a shy smile. "Just pretend he's a horrible Death Eater trying to kill the whole class and you'll do fine." The smile turned into laugh, and he looked around furtively like he was making sure no one was paying attention to them.

"Luna!" he whispered loudly, making shushing gestures with his hands. "What if someone hears you?"

"I'm not worried about that," she replied seriously. "And it's hard to be scared when you're laughing, isn't it?"

Ears still pink, he nodded. "Thanks, Luna."

"You're welcome. Just remember, horrible Death Eater. I need to start some of this homework." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek and then was up and skipping away, leaving him to stare after her, mouth slightly agape.


	2. Chapter 2

Luna scanned the sea of crimson scarves for her friends. Ron, Ginny, and Harry would be in the Gryffindor dressing rooms getting ready, but Neville and Hermione would be in the stands somewhere. She reached up and touched her wand to her lion hat, causing it to roar loudly. When everyone turned to look at her, she spotted the familiar faces she was looking for. She smiled and waved, and Hermione and Neville waved back.

She pushed through the crowd of people to where her friends were sitting, and Hermione shifted over so Luna could sit between them. "Hello," she greeted them as she settled down.

"Hi, Luna," Neville said, and there was a little bit of extra color in his cheeks.

"Hi," Hermione said. "Have you started studying for your O.W.L.s yet?"

The blond nodded, the mane on her hat waving back and forth. "Ginny's studying with me this year."

"Is that... Smith?" Neville broke in, pointing across the Quidditch pitch to where a familiar blond boy was settling down beside Professor McGonagall with the microphone.

Luna nodded. "I'm going to do the next match." She was oblivious to the look her companions exchanged behind her head.

"That's... great, Luna." Hermione didn't sound very convinced.

The teams came out amongst the cheers from their supporters. Gryffindor was more popular than Slytherin, of course, but the students in the green scarves seemed to try and make up for it with their level of noise and obnoxiousness.

Madam Hooch released the balls and the game started. It was as brutal as it usually was between the two teams and, five minutes in, Slytherin had already had two penalties against them. Ginny scored the second one easily, but when she flew by where Luna, Neville, and Hermione were sitting, she had an anxious look on her face.

"She doesn't look happy," Luna observed airily.

"No," Neville agreed. "She said she was worried about the match today."

And then _it_ happened. Ginny was slammed into by a very smug-looking Uquhart and her broom spun out of control and started to plummet to the ground. He looked like he was saying something, but they were too far away to make out what it was. Madam Hooch was there with a cushioning charm before she hit the turf, but she was still definitely hurt.

Hermione jumped to her feet, her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide and scared.

"You should go down there," Luna told her. "We'll meet you in the hospital wing."

The older girl nodded and started wading through the crowd of students as quickly as she could.


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny knew that getting out of bed would only draw Madam Pomfrey's attention, and Madam Pomfrey would insist she stay in bed and rest, even if she had to take a dreamless sleep potion to do it. So Ginny lay there, propped up on the pillow, growing more irritated by the minute. Why was she always the last to know things? Hermione knew. Harry knew. Ron probably knew. Apparently even Neville knew. Damn Urquhart for ramming her during the game! She folded her arms over the scratchy hospital blanket to wait.

It was entirely too long before Luna came skipping in, still wearing her lion hat from the Quidditch match. "Hello, Ginny," she greeted and sat down in the chair Hermione had occupied before she'd run from the room in a panic.

"What is going on?" Ginny demanded.

"I thought you might like the company, so I came to see you. You look very cross." She cocked her head and looked at Ginny seriously. "I'd be very cross too, I think, if someone hit me like that."

"Do you know what the lantern is?"

"Of course!" Luna leaned forward as though she was imparting some great secret. "Wrackspurts are more likely to find you when you're hurt, you know. You should think positive things. Like Urquhart getting suspended from the team, now they'll have to find a new captain."

"What is it?"

"The captain of the Quidditch team? You must have a great many wrackspurts in your head," Luna answered with a concerned frown. "He's the person who-"

"The lantern, Luna. What is the lantern?"

"Oh! Neville overheard Harry and Ron talking about it. He's very clever, you know, I don't think people give him enough credit."

Ginny waited for her friend to go on, but that was apparently the end of the statement. "What _is_ it?"

"When he was a first year, Harry dropped a lantern in the restricted section." Luna nodded sagely as if that answered all of Ginny's questions.

"... And?"

"They're researching something in there."

"..._And?"_

"When they talk about the lantern, they're talking about the restricted section. I think they're looking for something to do with Mr. Black falling through the veil."

"Urquhart told me to tell Harry to keep his hands off the lantern. And Hermione acted like that was a horrible thing."

"He's so funny!" Luna laughed as though that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "He probably thinks it has something to do with why Draco Malfoy keeps coming out of the Room of Requirement. He wasn't playing today, as you may remember, so he couldn't tell you himself. Maybe he has a lot of wrackspurts too."

"Malfoy is using the Room of Requirement?"

"Of course he is!"

"So why would Hermione be worried?"

"Hermione worries about a great many things."

But Ginny wasn't convinced. Hermione did worry a lot, but usually her worries were founded.

"I should let you rest. I'll bring you some chocolate later." Luna got up and skipped out.


	4. Chapter 4

"I don't ever, ever want to do that again," Urquhart said to the blond witch sitting on the floor of the abandoned girl's lavatory beside him. He seemed very shaken, very out-of-sorts.

"I've never taken a Polyjuice Potion before," Luna stated, watching as his face started to distort and shift until it became the familiar blond-topped head of Neville Longbottom. "Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, it feels like your skin is melting off."

"That doesn't sound very nice at all." She looked concerned. "Why couldn't Harry or Ron do it?"

"Because he's expecting them to."

"Did you find out anything?" She smiled and patted his arm. "You don't have to tell me what it was, Neville, I know they don't want a lot of people knowing."

"You're not a lot of people, you're..." He ducked his head suddenly and couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence. When he dared to look up at her again, she was smiling happily at him. "What?" he asked after a little bit of her staring at him.

She took his hand and held it between her two small ones. "Did you find out anything?"

"Not really," he said, and he sounded a little frustrated. "Nothing we didn't already know. Crabbe and Goyle are supposed to be keeping watch for him, but no one's seen them up there, have they?"

"I expect Harry's map will know," she replied with a nod. "You should probably go and tell them, I imagine they're waiting for you." She released him and pulled the bundle of his normal clothes out of her knapsack to hand it to him. Urquhart was a lot bigger than he was, and he was swimming in the borrowed Slytherin robes. "You're a lot braver than people give you credit for, Neville Longbottom." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

He stared at her for a moment, then took the clothes and went into one of the stalls to get changed. When he came out, she was standing up and staring at the line of sinks.

"They'll be in the library, won't they?" she asked him over her shoulder, as though she already knew the answers. "I'll go with you, if that's ok, I need to do some studying anyway." She turned and offered him her open knapsack and he filled it with the too-large clothing.

"Aren't you worried someone will see us coming out of here together?" he asked. He was worried. All this sneaking around, the Polyjuice Potion, it had left him slightly on edge.

"Of course not," she replied airily. "They'll just think we've been snogging. We could, you know, and then they wouldn't be wrong."

He stared at her, unsure if she was being serious or not. The smile on her face gave him no clue. "We- We should go." He started walking toward the door and just before he pushed it open, she caught his hand and held it.


	5. Chapter 5

Neville's hand was shaking so much that the paper he clutched tightly between his fingers was rattling audibly. He glanced back at his dorm-mates, who gave him an encouraging sort of look. His eyes were wide and he shook his head frantically, but both of his friends nodded firmly.

He walked across the Gryffindor Common Room to where Ginny was sitting with Hermione. Both appeared to be studying.

"Hi, Neville," they both said, almost at the same time. He glanced at the instructions on the paper and then up at the pretty redhead.

"Do-" The rest of the words stuck in his throat. This was ridiculous. He'd done this before. _But it was so much more serious this time_, said the little voice at the back of his mind that always seemed intent on destroying his confidence. It sounded a lot like Gran's voice.

"DoyouwanttogotoProfessorSlughorn'sChristmaspartywithme?" came out in a rush.

Ginny looked a little amused and Hermione leveled a scowl behind him, where Ron and Harry were snickering quietly. "I'm supposed to ask you," she told him gently. "I'm the one with the invitation. They're taking the mickey." Her tone was apologetic.

Neville looked over his shoulder at his friends and they were both laughing outright at his discomfort. He flopped down in the chair next to Hermione, looking distinctly unhappy.

"So, do you want to go to the Slug Club Christmas party with me?" Ginny asked. "As friends of course." It was impossible to miss Hermione's smile and Ginny's answering blush. "If it makes you feel any better, Harry's asking Luna to go with him as a friend."

"Is he?" His previous embarrassment was all-but-forgotten with the idea of Luna all dressed up to go to the party.

"There will be mistletoe there," Hermione added pointedly.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," he said. "She'll probably want to spend the whole night looking for nargles."

"So distract her. I'm almost positive there are other things she'd rather be doing with you." A knowing grin from the younger witch made Neville sit up a little straighter.

"Really?" he asked.

"She was a little disappointed that you didn't take her up on her invitation earlier."

What invitation? He thought over the events of the day and- _Oh_. That invitation. He felt his ears growing a little warm. "Why are we all going anyway?" he asked, after a look around to make sure no one was listening in. "I know those snakes won't be there."

"That's why," Hermione answered. "They'll think we're all busy, Harry will have his cloak..."

That made sense. He realized he still hadn't answered Ginny's invitation. "I will. Thank you. I'll owl Gran for my dress robes."


End file.
